grnvixen

Weekend was kind of slow. Had friday off and had hoped to have lunch with a friend but that didn't work out. Saturday was two meetings/rehearsals that look like I'm going to be pretty busy in the future with costuming. Sunday the kick-back day, got up early to go swim at the way, rest of the morning was lazy, reading the paper, short nap with one of the cats, then head out to run some errands.

As I was exiting the house via the garage (a drive-out in the back) I spooked something large and feathery from the mass of ivy under the steps to our deck. It only flew as far as the roof-rack of my car so I was able to get a good look at it. A hawk! Absolutely gorgeous bird, who was obviously just a little unhappy at being interrupted during lunch (a couple of short grey feathers were still attached to it's beak :) ). Even though I had chased it out of the ivy, it did not seem very frightened of me and we stood and stared at each other for a good 5 minutes. My first impression was that it was an immature redtail, as it was about the size of some male redtails I have seen, and had the speckled breast. Only later did it register that the tail was longer than a redtail, and banded. It was also a little longer/leaner in the body than a redtail. Spent some time today on the web and now I believe it was either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Cooper's is more common for the area but both migrate through here. Both primarily feed on other birds (so DH's rabbits are safe) and will hunt in shrubbery.

I could have stood watching it all afternoon it was such a beautiful bird, but was afraid that when it finally flew off it might head for the wide-open garage door so, finally, I slowly moved around to the other side of the car to open the driver's door and get to the remote. I was probably within 4 feet of it, the car between us, when it decided to fly off. It didn't go very far however, at first attempting to land on the deck railing but it was to wide for a good grip. Finally it flew off around the side of the house. I didn't see it when I pulled out of the drive and DH did not see any sign of it when he left the house about 20 mintues later. I hope it came back later to finish lunch :).

I think it was still in the neighborhood this morning however as the level of seed in the bird feeder has not changed since yesterday and it was very very quiet. Normally there are a lot of small birds and a few Doves hanging around our yard. If it is a migratory bird I may not get a chance to see it again but it was a real treat to have had the glimpse I did.